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Thread: indubitable's beginner training log

  1. #11
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    May 2010
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    • starting strength seminar april 2024
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    Refreshed after 3 days of rest and a bit of a vacation. Felt awesome, thought about locomotives, listened to the F-22s flying overhead, watched Andy Bolton deadlift 1008 lbs on YouTube for inspiration.

    Warmup: 6:00 on Concept2

    Squat: [45x5x2, 115x5x1, 165x3x1, 185x2x1] 200x5x2, 205x5x1 (PR)
    Bench Press: [45x5x2, 95x5x1, 135x3x1, 145x2x1] 162.5x5x1, 162.5x4x1, 160x5x1
    Deadlift: [135x5x2, 185x5x1, 225x2x1, 240x2x1] 260x5x1 (PR)

    Waited ~5 minutes for squats in power rack. Some guy was curling a bare Olympic bar in the rack and alternating with dips on one of the safeties, with his feet propped up on a jumping platform. The assisted dip station is approximately 15 ft away.

    Felt like a million bucks doing squats, stayed tight and kept my chest up, added another 5 lbs for a PR set without too much trouble at the end. Deadlifts felt great too; did DOHG for all warmups and switched to mixed grip for the work set, it felt brutally heavy and just great to crank out reps with. Remained focused on setting and holding my posture before starting each rep. I love deadlift day.

    Not sure why I did not have commensurate progress on the bench, but I feel like my form held up, and it's a small improvement over my previous best since re-reading the bench press chapter and making some changes to my form.

  2. #12
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    May 2010
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    Felt like garbage yesterday and missed my workout; did it today instead.

    Warmup: 4:00 on the Concept2 at around a 2:10 split

    Squat: [45x5x2, 115x5x1, 155x3x1, 185x2x1] 200x5x2, 200x3x1
    Press: [45x5x2, 65x5x1, 85x3x1, 100x2x1] 112.5x3x1, 105x4x2
    Power Clean: [95x3x1, 105x3x1, 115x4x1] 125x3x5

    Waited for power rack for squats while some guy alternated curling 55 lbs and doing crunches with his legs draped over the bar, which was laying on the safeties. Had to scratch my head on that one.

    Weekends are usually weak workouts for me. Today, I was literally struggling not to fall asleep while working through presses; I was yawning in between sets and I couldn't muster the drive to put the proper weight overhead, so I dropped down to 105 but still struggled. I made sure to eat something for breakfast a few hours before (egg sandwich with bacon and cheese) and I had plenty of sleep, so I'm not sure what's going on.

    Was able to muster a couple of satisfying, explosive reps on the power clean, though I am still not satisfied with my form most of the time. I feel like my work on the deadlift is paying dividends here with making this lift more explosive, and on the squat, where my back has been feeling much stronger lately.

  3. #13
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    May 2010
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    Got to the gym and saw that the power rack was unoccupied. Decided to seize the opportunity, skipped the rower warmup, and went right to squat warmup sets.

    Squat: [45x5x2, 115x5x1, 165x3x1, 185x2x1] 205x5x3
    Bench press: [45x5x2, 105x5x1, 135x3x1, 150x2x1] 162.5x5x3
    Deadlift: [135x5x2, 185x5x1, 225x3x1, 245x2x1] 270x4x1 (PR)

    Noticed my mouth getting dry and cottony on the last two DL sets; this happened last time as well. I actually paused after 3 reps of the work set because my hands were getting slick. Was able to get out one more rep and was then totally spent. Definitely time to get chalk.
    Last edited by indubitable; 06-21-2010 at 10:12 PM.

  4. #14
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    May 2010
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    Entry from yesterday; forgot to bring my log with me, so I'm not bothering with recording the warmup sets this time.

    Squat: 210x4x1, 205x4x1, 205x5x1
    Press: 112.5x4x1, 110x4x2
    Power Clean: 130x3x2, 125x3x3

    Still pretty tired in middle of workout, not sure why, the extra day off did not seem to help. Getting 8+ hours of sleep every night and my eating patterns have not changed. Not sore, so I'm not sure if it's a recovery issue or not.

  5. #15
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    May 2010
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    Entry from Saturday, 6/26:

    Squat: [95x5x2, 135x5x1, 165x3x1, 190x2x1] 210x5x2, 210x3x1
    Bench press: [65x5x2, 105x5x1, 135x3x1, 155x2x1] 165x5x2, 165x4x1
    Deadlift: [135x5x2, 185x3x1, 225x2x1] no work sets completed

    Again got to the gym just slightly too late and had to leave at closing time before being able to complete my deadlifts.

  6. #16
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    May 2010
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    Entry from yesterday:

    Body weight now 190 lbs.

    Warm up on Concept2 rower

    Press: [45x5x2, 65x5x1, 85x3x1, 100x2x1] 112.5x5x3
    Squat: [45x5x1, 95x5x2, 155x4x1, 185x3x1, 195x2x1] 210x5x2, 205x5x1
    Power clean: [65x5x2, 95x5x1, 115x3x1, 125x2x1] 130x3x1, 125x2x1, 115x3x3

    Despite noting that the power rack was unoccupied when I walked in, I decided to tempt fate and spend time warming up on the rower. When I finished, I got up only to find some guy swinging a kettlebell, doing situps and barbell shrugs in the power rack. Noooooooooooooooo...

    I decided to do presses first to make good use of my time while this guy did his entire circuit in the power rack.

    My form for power cleans seemed pretty poor at 130; I seemed to be catching the weight through my vertical forearms while rotating my elbows around instead of on my shoulders with elbows fully rotated. After taking off five pounds, I was so tired that I actually missed my second pull, so I went down to 115 to finish out my work sets with passable form. I guess everyone has bad days.
    Last edited by indubitable; 06-29-2010 at 10:24 PM.

  7. #17
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    May 2010
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    Entry from yesterday:

    Skipped warmup on Concept2 when I saw that the power rack was free. This was probably a mistake.

    Squat: [95x5x2, 135x5x1, 185x3x1, 195x2x1] 210x3x1, 205x3x2
    Bench Press: [45x5x2, 95x5x1, 135x3x1, 155x2x1] 167.5x5x3 (PR)
    Deadlift: [135x5x2, 185x5x1, 225x2x1, 250x2x1] 275x5x1 (PR)

    I had been feeling very relaxed all day and when it came time to squat, I just couldn't make myself move the weight of my original work set (215 lb, which I did for one rep). Tried dropping 5 lb to 210, only got 3 reps, dropped another 5 lb but could still only eke out 3. I think this may have been a warmup issue, because I felt very strong on both my bench presses and deadlifts later on, on which both I set PRs. Disappointed with the squats, but the other two offset that and I left feeling satisfied with my workout.

    I'll be on vacation for the next five days and won't be able to lift during that time. Here's to hoping I don't lose too much on my lifts...

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
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    How do you guys feel about asking someone to do their crunches outside of the power rack? The barbell curls and shrugs piss me off, too (you seriously can't deadlift/clean the weight and then start doing your 1/4 range of motion sets of 20 with it?) but I figure those people don't know how to deadlift in the first place, so they rack is somewhat justified. Is this crazy rude? WHY would you do crunches in the power rack?

  9. #19
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    May 2010
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    18

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    Well, I don't know about "you guys", since I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who follows my log, but here's my view.

    The barbell shrugs are a totally legit use of the power rack, so they don't bother me beyond the minor irritation that I have to wait around cooling off while necessary equipment is in use. I give the barbell curls a pass because Ripp actually recommends doing them in a rack in Starting Strength (although when done with an empty bar for 30 gazillion reps, I really have to wonder if the rack is necessary...). Shit like kettlebell swings and crunches is unforgivable, though. I usually stand behind the rack the whole time and look impatient while they're doing that; sometimes they get the message. Sometimes I will ask them how many sets they have left, that tends to help them notice my presence. I guess that's kind of passive-aggressive, but I haven't run into a case egregious enough yet to warrant asking whether they might do that outside of the power rack. If I see the crunches thing again, though, I might just do that -- doing that in the power rack is crazy rude, asking them to do it elsewhere is not.

    On the other side of the coin, when I'm squatting and I see someone else waiting around, I'll ask them if they're squatting and let them work in. If they're not looking to squat, it's understandable not letting them work in, because it's usually a hassle to completely unload, reposition the bar, and reload between every set.

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